Haven-Attack of the Wendigo
by Phantomagorical
Summary: A brutal and unusual murder casts a shadow on the troubled town of Haven. It is up to Dwight, Audrey, Nathan and Duke to prevent any more deaths, but at what cost?
1. Chapter 1

It was almost noon when they found the body in the woods. A local woman sprinted to the police station screaming after she came across the mauled corpse on her morning run.

"DEAD!" She screamed, as she grabbed the front of Nathan Wuornos' jacket and shook him vigorously.

"Okay sweetie, calm down and take a seat." He said, looking positively alarmed as she released him and collapsed into the nearest chair and breathing heavily. He looked around desperately for any help, and sighed with relief when he spotted Dwight Hendrickson entering the room, completely immersed in a recent report about the Beach Banshee.

"Dwight?" He asked.

Dwight looked up in surprise. He obviously didn't realise that there was anyone else in the room at that time.

"Oh, hey Nate," He replied, and set down the report on his desk. It was only when the woman burst into tears did he notice her.

"Katy?" He said, startled "What's wrong?"

The woman called Katy looked up, and there seemed to be something comforting about Dwight, as she stopped crying momentarily.

"I-I-I was just run-running into the woods, and I found a d-dead…" She stopped suddenly and broke into a fresh wave of tears.

He walked over to her and got down to his knees, so that he was level with her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, which caused her to look up again. Her eyes were sore and red.

"Where did you find this body?"

"I found him, on the e-east side of the woods, near the old elementary sch-school." She replied, wiping her eyes frantically.

Dwight nodded, and stood up swiftly. He turned to Nathan.

"Nate, I want you to get Duke, Audrey, Vince and Dave." He said promptly.

"Okay, were do you think Vince and Dave will be?" He asked.

"Knowing them, it would be the bar. They were always early starters with the beer. Just make sure that they aren't too drunk. We don't want a repeat of last time."

"What, you mean when we were pulling brambles off of Vince's-"

"Exactly," He interrupted, smirking slightly at the recalling of that incident. Poor Vince had set out at 4 in the evening considerably intoxicated, and for some ridiculous reason, tried to do a Swanton Bomb- a forward somersault where you do a swan dive then turn at the last minute so you land on your back on your opponent- from a tree to a bush, only to find out that it was full of brambles and stinging nettles.

"So, anyway," He said, shaking himself out of this daydream. "Find them, and meet me down near the school entrance. I don't want anyone going into those woods on their own, especially when we are dealing with a recent murder. That mad man could be anywhere."

"Okay, see you in a bit I guess," He said, and before leaving the office, he turned around and looked at Dwight.

"Do you want me to bring any weapons?"

Dwight looked at him for a moment and then nodded.

"No guns though. Last thing I want is to have to get a new shirt. All the rest of them still have blood stains…"


	2. Chapter 2

Audrey Parker stirred sugar into her tea as she looked out of her window at the Haven lighthouse. Its red and white vertical stripes were faded, worn down by the constant storms. Waves crashed furiously against the boulders that supported the lighthouse, and sprayed its windows lightly with salty cold water. She placed the spoon in the sink and sipped her tea, still not taking her eyes off of the lighthouse.

All of a sudden, there was someone knocking on her front door. She placed the mug down on the marble counter and made her way towards the door. She opened it to find herself face to face with Nathan. He smiled slightly.

"Hey Audrey," He said. "Did I interrupt your mid-morning tea break?"

"Yeah," She said, grinning nonetheless. "It must be important if you're brave enough to do that…"

"It is," Nathan replied, running his hand through his hair slowly. "And you can blame Dwight if you want to for this."

"Do you want to sit down, or are you in a hurry?" She asked, frowning slightly.

"Well, I think you mean that we are in a hurry. I need you to come with me to pick up Duke, Vince and Dave."

"Okay, but aren't you going to explain-"

"I'll explain everything when we meet up with Dwight. Although saying that, he may have to explain it, has he knows the situation better than I do."

Audrey nodded, and took her coat off of the hanger. She then looked around at the steaming mug on the counter top. Nathan followed her gaze and then sighed.

"I'll get you mocha on the way there…" He grinned. Audrey smiled back, and then followed Nathan out of the door, closing it behind her.

Duke Crocker was sitting outside his cabin by the coast, when he heard a vehicle roll up next to his own pick-up. He looked up, and saw Nathan and Audrey both waving for him to come over. Puzzled, he got up and walked over to the car as Nathan rolled down his window.

"Hey Duke, fancy a ride?" He asked.

Duke bent down so that he was level with Nathan, and continued to look a little confused.

"Why do you guys need me?" He asked gruffly.

"Well, we kinda got a problem, and we need your help."

"Uh, okay, but what's-"

"Dwight will explain everything when we get there."

Duke opened his mouth to ask where they were going, but decided against it, and simply nodded. He then promptly opened the back door and got in, clicked in his seat-belt and folded his arms.

"Okay, but before we go, I do have one question." He said.

"And what may that be?"

"Why the hell has Audrey got mocha and I haven't?"

Nathan rolled his eyes and Audrey chuckled. He turned in his seat to face Duke.

"I'll get you one on the way there…" He sighed, shaking his head as Duke cheered and did a small victory dance in his seat.

"I just need to pick up Vince and Dave and we'll be-"

He stopped talking as his phone was ringing. His picked it up and answered it.

"Hello?"

"It's me Dwight. Don't worry about picking up Dave and Vince, they are already there. I don't know how, because I haven't told them…"

"You know those two," Nathan said. "They can literally smell trouble. They know everything that goes one here."

"That's true…" Dwight said. "Have you picked up Duke and Audrey yet?"

"Yeah, but I'm going to have to make a quick detour."

"Why?"

"Duke wants mocha, so we're gonna stop off at the café first. We'll be there in about 10 minutes maximum, don't worry."

"Good, and Nate?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you get me cappuccino?"

Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but you owe me."

"I'll pay you when you get here." Dwight chuckled. "See you in a bit."


	3. Chapter 3

Dwight hung up the phone and placed it back in his coat pocket. He sighed and looked into the woods with slight apprehension. He wasn't looking forward to finding this body. From what the woman had told him about the state of the body, he knew that it couldn't possibly be human. However, he didn't know any animal that could do this. There had been chunks of flesh ripped from the body, and the teeth marks where the thing was gnawing off the left arm were like a humans with sharp canines. He had a slight suspicion that he knew what it was, but he was hoping deeply that it wasn't.

"What's troubling you then?"

Dwight jumped and turned around, only to find himself face to face with Vince. Relieved that it wasn't something else, he smiled sadly at Vince and continued to look into the woods.

"Oh it's nothing. I was just thinking about what could have killed him."

Vince frowned slightly.

"So you don't think it is human either?" He asked, putting his hands in his coat pockets. Dwight looked back at him with surprise.

"How do you know I was thinking that?"

"Well you're not the only one who possibly knows what this creature is."

"Is it what I think it is?" Dwight said with a hint of fear.

"I'm afraid so. We're dealing with a-"

He stopped, for Nathan had arrived with Duke and Audrey. They all got out of the car and walked over to where the two of them were standing. Nathan was holding a flask of cappuccino for Dwight.

"There you go Dwight," He said, handing it to him. "It was free, so you don't need to pay up."

"Thanks," Dwight replied, and took the cappuccino and took a sip. He kept on glancing into the woods.

"So you know who did this?"

Dwight looked around at Audrey, and shrugged his shoulders.

"We have an idea, but I'm really hoping that it isn't what we think it is."

"I think before we ask who's done it, we should be asking what the hell has happened, Audrey." Duke interjected, folding his arms impatiently. Dwight rolled his eyes. He was too accustomed to Duke's tantrums and attitude by now to let it bother him.

"A woman-Katy Meadows, the swimming instructor at the leisure centre- said that she came across a body on her morning run somewhere over there," He said, pointing into the woods next to the old elementary school. "She said that the body had chunks of flesh ripped out of it, and human teeth marks in the arm. The leg was broken in three places and there were scratches that looked like human ones on his face."

"So hold on," Audrey interrupted. "Are you saying that we are dealing with a vampire, werewolf like thing?"

"There is a name for this vampire werewolf thing, you know." Vince sighed.

"Well what is it then?" Duke groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Duke seriously, there is no need to…" Audrey started, but stopped when she looked at Nathan.

Dwight gulped, and then he sighed deeply.

"It's possible that it is a-"

He stopped suddenly, for a piercing shriek was issued from the woods. They all stared into the woods startled. Only one thing could make a screech like that.

"Wendigo?" Audrey whispered in fright. Dwight replied with a nod, not taking his eyes off of the spot where they heard the scream.

"Listen, we are dealing with possibly the most deadly creature you can get in Haven. It is likely that it is in its human form right now, but from that scream, I have a feeling that it isn't. We need to split into two groups. Me, Audrey and Nathan will take the route in front of us," He said, indicating the opening they were currently standing in front of. "And Duke, Dave and Vince will take my van around to where the old gas station is, and you will go through the opening there."

They all nodded, and started to set off, but Dwight halted them.

"You will need to take some cross bows with you. No knives, because that would be too risky, and a gun is out of the question, especially if I'm near."

They nodded a second time and set off. Duke got into Dwight's van with Vince, and he woke up Dave who was sleeping in the back.

"Dude, it's time to go." He said.

"I know, I know. I heard the whole thing." Dave yawned.

They drove off, leaving Dwight, Audrey and Nathan standing there looking after them.

"Well shall we set off then?" Dwight asked, hoisting up his crossbow over his shoulder and started to walk towards the opening.

"Better now than never," Audrey sighed, grabbing her crossbow and setting off after him with Nathan. "Although it would be better if we didn't have to in the first place…"


	4. Chapter 4

Audrey and Nathan followed Dwight cautiously in through the opening and across the creaking willow bridge where ivy was dominating the planks they walked on. Dwight did not speak, but with simple hand gestures, he lead the others down the path in which Katy had informed him about. Audrey was looking around her in fear, and didn't notice that Nathan had stopped to tie up his laces.

"Ow!" She exclaimed, and then she started to giggle as Nathan fell forward in quite a comical fashion. Dwight looked around in slight panic, and whilst rolling his eyes at the humorous sight, couldn't help but smirk slightly. That smirk was immediately gone when all of a sudden, another otherworldly screeched echoed through the trees, only it sounded further away than the last screech. Dwight crouched down with Nathan and Audrey, who looked at him fearfully.

"It sounds like it's retreating back to its den for the day," He whispered. "They aren't normally active during the day, so we should be okay."

"Which way do you reckon he went?" Audrey asked in a hushed voice.

"Left, by the sounds of it, which is a stroke of luck for us." He replied, sighing with relief. The path they need to go was to the right, so the fact that this Wendigo, which Dwight was now one hundred percent positive that it was that, was as far away as it could be from the situation, was good news for them. It wasn't the body it worried him. It was what would happen if one of those things found him, Audrey and Nathan. He'd read about Wendigos before, and the whole idea of what they can do terrified him. They were vicious and bloodthirsty, but they were also possessive. That is why Dwight told them to go in two groups of three. Six would be too many to look after. three is easier to manage. Pairs may be pushing it, but going in on their own...

Then, a horribly thought occurred in his head. Katy went in on her own. What if she was a danger to the whole of Haven? What if one of those things were using her body as a way of luring in innocent people into the-

It wasn't until he thought this that he realised that the three of them were in terrible danger. Wendigos would attack possess a human when they were on their own, but they would attack humans if they were in groups of three or under. They needed to find the body as quickly as possible, and then get out of the forest.

He looked around at Audrey and Nathan, and then signalled for them to arm themselves. He knew that they couldn't out run a Wendigo, but you could slow it down with a couple of knife wounds, which was their only weakness. The trouble was though, getting near enough to a Wendigo to harm it enough to get the opportunity to escape was hard enough. They needed sheer luck to get out of this situation.

They got up slowly, and took the next right of the foot path. It wasn't until they reached the old Willow tree when they noticed a trail of blood going right from the tree. They knew that they were getting close to the body, and so they hurried over to where the trail started, and followed it slowly.

Along the trail were bones of rats and feathers of birds. This worried Dwight. Maybe they were going into the Wendigo den. Then, just as he thought that, a screech echoed again, although this one was obviously quite far away, due it being quieter than before.

But what happened after terrified him, as not one, but two screeches responded, both of different pitches. Audrey, Nathan and Dwight stopped dead in their tracks. There were more than one here in this forest. One was bad enough to deal with, but three? He looked back at them, and they looked at him with exactly the same expression in their eyes: Fear.


	5. Chapter 5

Duke sat on the back seats of the van, his arms resting behind his head and whistling to himself. Vince and Dave were sitting in the front with Vince driving. He looked anxious and agitated, which was probably down to a mix of fear of driving and fear of the idea of a Wendigo. Dave, on the other hand, merely looked grumpy and bored. It takes 20 minutes to drive around to the other side of the forest, and they had only been driving for 5 minutes. No one had said a word. The only noises in the car were Duke's whistling and Dave's sighs of pure annoyance.

The phone started to ring. Duke picked it up and saw that it was an unknown number. He hung up, and flung it back on the seat it originally was on. If it was important, he thought, then they would ring back immediately. It didn't.

They were now only 3 minutes away, and still no one had uttered a single word to each other. Duke debated whether he should break the silence, and deciding that if he didn't do it now, there would never be a good time to ask it anywhere else, he asked Vince the one question that was on his mind since they had set off to the other side of the forest.

"Do you reckon we might run into one of those Wendigo things?"

Vince jumped slightly, as he had forgot that Duke was with them. He regained composure, and then replied.

"It is quite unlikely. They hunt during the night, and that is only if there is any humans wandering through here at night. However, they do tend to be more active during the day if there is more than one of them in the vicinity. Let's just hope that's not the case..."

"What if it is?" Duke asked.

"Then run. Run for your life."

They drove into the old abandoned car park, the tyres crunching over the loose gravel. Duke opened the door when they had stopped, and got out of the van. Dave and Vince followed suite. They stood facing the opening that they were to enter. It was pitch-black, and vines were growing haphazardly either side. It looked claustrophobic and nyctophobic.

Duke looked at it, slightly confused. How did Katy manage to come through this way? She was highly fearful of both the dark and enclosed spaces, not to mention being on her own. Before he had time to ponder more about how Katy's story didn't make any sense in the slightest, an echoing screech issued from the forest. Duke looked at Dave and Vince, ready to set off, but just as they started to head towards the opening, another screech issued from the forest. It was a higher pitch than the one they had just heard. All three of them froze, and then backed away from the entrance, straight into the car again. Once they had locked the doors, the phone rang. This time it came up with a recognisable number: Dwight's. Duke picked it up and answered it.

"Dwight? What's up?" He asked, trying to mask his fear at what he had just heard.

"Duke, you guys need to come back here immediately. Don't think about going in the forest, and if you are in there already, get out now."

"Okay, where are you three right now?"

"We are on our way out of the forest right now. Listen, when we get back, we need to find-"

"Katy?" He asked.

"...Yeah, how did you know we...?" Dwight asked, confused.

"I'll tell you when we see you." He said.

"Okay. Just get here now. Our main priority is to get the hell out of here before we run into one of those things."

"Sure thing, see you in a bit." Duke said, and hung up. He looked at Vince, who had turned around in his seat to listen in on the conversation.

"Vince, we need to go back there as quick as possible. Maybe it's best that I drive though..."

Vince merely nodded, and they quickly swapped places and finally set off.

As they were driving, Duke couldn't help but think of what was not only happening to Dwight, Nathan and Audrey, but what Katy was doing, and if they had accidently let... He shook his head quickly and concentrated on getting to the others as quick as possible.


	6. Chapter 6

Dwight placed his phone back into his pocket, and zipped it slowly up. He looked around cautiously, and at Nathan and Audrey, both of whom were sharing similar expressions of fear and dread.

"Okay," He whispered. "I've just spoken to Duke, and by what he has said, it appears that the Wendigo are nearer his way than ours. This is good news in a way, but nonetheless we need to get out of here, before we-"

He stopped, for another screech echoed through the trees. This time however it felt closer than it was before. They had to get out.

Dwight looked again at Audrey and Nathan, nodded in silent agreement, turned around and ran. All that ran through Dwight's mind was the image of the previous Wendigo attack that he had witnessed. They had found the dead Wendigo in the high school swimming pool, emaciated from the lack of human flesh.

Suddenly, they heard not one, not two, but three different screeches, all varying in pitch. They needed to get out of there and fast.

"Ow!"

Nathan accidentally caught his foot on a rogue log and fell forward. Audrey and Dwight looked down in fear to see him on his back, clutching his foot and squirming in pain. Dwight bent down and examined his foot. It started to swell, and by the look of it, it was broken.

"I-I can't stand up!" He moaned, breathing heavily to managed the pain.

Dwight looked up at Audrey, who looked back down at him in panic. Without a second thought, he lifted up Nathan and placed him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

"You alright like this, Nate?" He asked.

"Y-y-yeah, I guess so." He murmured.

They continued to set off, only a little slower. They took a shortcut that was laced with low-hanging branches, thorny vines and decaying logs that Dwight in particular had to be careful to step over.

After what seemed like half an hour, but in actual fact was only five minutes, they reached the bridge that they had first crossed. It creaked slightly under the combined weight of Dwight and Nathan.

"What the hell?"

Dwight looked up to see to his relief that Duke, Vince and Dave were parked twenty feet in front of them. Duke rushed over and helped to lift Nathan off of Dwight's shoulder. Without talking, they both carried Nathan to the car and placed him slowly and gingerly into the back seat. Audrey got in and sat next to Nathan and comforted him as he started to grimace and tear up in pain. Dwight closed the door, and after Vince and Dave got in the back of the car, it was only Dwight and Duke standing outside.

"So," Duke asked. "What happened to Mr No-Pain?"

"He broke his foot on a rogue log." Dwight replied, running his hand through his hair and going around to the boot to put stow away his crossbow.

"It's a shame Audrey was around when he did it, huh?"

Dwight nodded, and looked back into the opening.

Nathan Wournos was Troubled with the inability to feel pain. In some ways that would seem great, but if he were to break something, or even get appendicitis, he would not be able to feel it, and of course that would be fatal. However, for some reason, when ever Audrey was around, he would feel pain, and sometimes it was even more severe for him, as he had gone through his whole life without knowing what it would feel like. No one still knows why this would happen, and they doubted that they ever would.

Dwight and Duke got into the car, Dwight in the driver's seat and Duke in the passenger. Dwight put the key in the ignition and they started to drive back to the Police station.


	7. Chapter 7

Instead of driving directly to the police station, they made a detour to the hospital to drop off Nathan. They decided that it would be best for Audrey to accompany him, because even though her presence made him feel pain (in this case excruciating pain), with out her around he would not be able to tell the doctor exactly how painful the injury is and where it is. Last year he had broken his wrist clean in half, yet he was completely oblivious to it for approximately 4 hours. It wasn't until a young female officer at the police station screamed in terror at the sight of a limp and dangling broken wrist did he realise that he probably should go to the hospital to get it mended.

They stopped outside the entrance of the hospital. Audrey, with the assistance of Dwight, helped guide Nathan gingerly over to a wheelchair just outside the main reception. Nathan whimpered slightly when he sat down, and as she helped place a blanket around his shoulders, he looked up at Dwight in concern.

"Don't worry about anything or anyone else but Nathan at the moment." He said, answering the question that was rolling around in her mind.

"You'll be okay, won't you?" She asked him. "You'll be able to look after everyone else?"

Dwight nodded.

"If you have any worries, phone me." He told her. She nodded, and after saying 'goodbye' to Duke, Vince and Dave, she went back to Dwight and hugged him.

"See you later, then." She said.

"You keep an eye on Nathan for me, won't you?" He asked her, as they broke the hug.

"Of course." She said, smiling sadly. Then, with a final wave, she wheeled Nathan through the doors.

Dwight watched them disappear through the doors and walk over to the reception desk, and then after a couple of minutes saw them being escorted by a nurse through a pair of double doors. He turned back around at the others, who all shared the same inquisitorial look. He nodded at them, and they knew that this was the signal to get back into the car. They got into the car, Dwight in the driver's seat as usual. He was out of the four of them the safest and most trusted driver. Duke would have given them a headache from swearing non-stop at drivers who were either too slow or too fast. Vince was too slow and scared of hitting deer, and Dave would have fallen asleep at the wheel.

They set off back to the police station in silence, pondering on their individual thoughts on the situation at hand. Dwight possibly had the most difficult task in trying to cover up the savage murder as a tragic accident. He was quite sure that people wouldn't be too pleased at the news of savage, cannibalistic, human possessing monsters roaming around the woods about 8 miles away. Dwight was known as the cleaner. It was down to him to cover up any sticky or unusual incidents that occurred in Haven. If the people of Haven knew about the horrible truth, then people would be flocking from the place, and the FBI would have wanted to investigate each person for any signs of abnormal behaviour. Sadly, there would be a one in three chance of detecting someone who was, as the locals called it, 'Troubled'. The irony of Dwight's job of covering up the 'Troubles' was that he was 'Troubled' himself. If there was a situation that he needed to sort out that could possibly involve violence, they would make sure that there were no guns around. Dwight was known as a 'bullet magnet'. What this meant was that any bullet that was fired 100 feet away from him would be directed towards him even if it wasn't directed towards him in the first place. He had served as a solider in Afghanistan-a great way to find out first-hand his trouble.

A while ago, members of the Guard (an organisation within Haven to supposedly 'help' those who were Troubled') invaded his house to try and capture him. His daughter Lizzie was there at the time. Sadly, the emotional turmoil of the situation triggered the old family trait, and she died instantly from a rogue bullet fired by the Guard. To this day, Dwight has sworn that he will never join forces with the Guard.

They sat in silence for the entire journey, and when they arrived at the station, Dave and Vince immediately left, only waving as a signal of their departure. This left Dwight and Duke standing outside of the police station, looking at each other.

"So, uh, shall we go in?" Duke asked, gesturing towards the front door.

"Might as well." He replied, and they walked through into the main office area. No one else but the officer that he had seen that morning trying and failing to calm down-

"George?" He asked the officer.

"Hm?"

"Where did Katy go?"

"Uh, she left. She said she was hungry, said something like she could eat a human-"

"What?" Dwight looked at him in shock.

"I thought it was a joke, but she licked her lips when she said it, so now I'm not so sure."

Dwight looked around at Duke, and they knew immediately that they needed to find Katy before-

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!"

Dwight and Duke jumped in shock, and just as another scream echoed around the walls of the office, another different scream occurred, a cross between a human and a...

They grabbed their crossbows, and ran outside.

There was a circle of people surrounding something that appeared to terrify and repulse them. Dwight rushed over and pushed his way through the circle to find what was so horrifying.


End file.
